for decades it was dormant but this week the u.s. army band performed the work, giving the composer his first chance to here the work. >> my name is harold van huglen, and my age is 93. i'm a veteran of world war ii. in 1945 i was stationed in new orleans, louisiana at the new orleans army airbase, and i was an instructor. the peace in europe had already been written in april of that year. so they said we can do anything we want to. i decided to write a symphony. during those 70 years when it sat on the shelf, i would look at it every once in a while and think, why isn't this being played? >> my brother and i came upon the bound copy of the symphony. i talked with senator carl, a senator from michigan where my dad lives. senator levin wrote a letter to the defense department and the next thing we knew we had a letter back from the arm my secretary saying we would like to perform this symphony. ♪ >> i was kind of worried what i was going to see and i was so grateful when i opened the score and saw it was a total piece of music, very